Member-only story
I attended (and helped chair) a panel on women’s leadership within the international development sector back in March. It was truly quite interesting and insightful, but also made me think about the state of women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa.
Unfortunately, many women across the world, including the Middle East are still battling the most basic of struggles, and haven’t really had to grapple with the issue of leadership yet.
Arab women are barely allowed to leave the home, let alone be seen as leaders of anything, whether it be in the home, community, or workplace.
In Saudi Arabia, women are treated like minors throughout their lives. Saudi women are subjected to guardianship laws which mean having to seek permission from their “guardians” to travel, study, and even work.¹ And, until recently, they weren’t even allowed to drive.
In Tunisia, the North African country where polygamy was abolished in 1956,² the government has been working on repealing an archaic inheritance law stipulating that women are allowed to inherit only half of what men would inherit.³ These laws are still alive and well in the rest of North Africa and the Middle East, so at least Tunisia is quite ahead in this respect.
